Tanya Sue Chutkan is a U.S. District Court judge in Washington, D.C. Born in Kingston, Jamaica, she came to the United States at age 17 to attend George Washington University. She later earned a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. In 2014, President Barack Obama nominated her to the federal court, and the Senate confirmed her by a 95–0 vote. In 2023, Chutkan was randomly selected to hearthe case brought by special counsel Jack Smith against then-former president Donald Trump. The trial was repeatedly delayed and after Trump’s 2024 re-election, Smith dropped the charges and Chutkan dismissed the case.
In 2026 she found herself in the middle of another case involving Trump, when she blocked work on the proposed D.C. triumphal arch in order to hear arguments from the governments of Washington, D.C. and Virginia that they would be irreparably harmed by its construction.